Billy’s “Pretty Good” at Scoring No. 1 Hits

Billy Currington celebrated his latest No. 1 single, “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer,” with a party at Nashville club Rooster’s. “It’s nice to have No. 1s. They don’t come easy. I’ve been fortunate enough to pair up with songwriters like Troy [Jones]. I just hope we continue to get more from those guys,” Billy told reporters. So does BMI, who threw the party for Billy and Troy, who wrote “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer.” The song’s producer Carson Chamberlain and the radio promotions department of Universal Music Group Nashville were among those honored for their part in making the song a hit.

Billy says his latest string of laid-back, good-ole-boy songs including “People Are Crazy” and “That’s How Country Boys Roll” were chosen on purpose to attract more guys to his music, at the advice of Tim McGraw. “That has happened and I’m glad for that. For so long we were playing shows and it was just 90% girls out there, and that was so cool for awhile,” Billy told reporters just before the No. 1 party. “I ended up going hunting with Tim McGraw one time, and he [saw] that one night at a show he was at. He was like ‘Man, that’s cool and all, but you’ve got to get them both. You got to get the guys and the girls, so drop the love songs for a minute,’” Billy said with a laugh. “So I took [Tim] up on that advice. So yeah, those beer drinking songs guys seem to like.”

While his latest No. 1 might be new to fans, Billy says he’s had “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer” for a few years. “‘Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer,’ I was actually going to put on the last album that I recorded, so I’ve been listening to it for two or three years,” he told reporters. “I put [songwriter Troy Jones’] other song ‘People Are Crazy’ on it. So I kind of hid ‘Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer’ on my computer and never told anyone. I never told anyone at the label. When it came time, I lived with it for two years and I had just knew in my heart and hoped other people would like it.”

So one question remains: Is Billy Currington pretty good at drinkin’ beer? “I’m kind of good at drinkin’ beer, like once in a blue moon, but it’s nothing I do every day.”